


That Was... Me?

by Uhohfeelings



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 09:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16951104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uhohfeelings/pseuds/Uhohfeelings
Summary: Logan has a physic power that is tied to his emotions, particularly, anger.





	That Was... Me?

He was in third grade when it first happened. His parents were fighting, again. He sat in the corner of his room furthest away from his door with his hands covering his ears, trying to block out the sound of his parents yelling, but he could still hear their muffled yelling.

He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his hands against his ear tighter. He was scared, angry, and upset. They were always so loud and yelling over each other. There was just so much _noise_. The noise only made him angrier. It was irrational, and he knew it, but he just couldn’t help it.

He didn’t notice anything was happening until he heard the slightly muffled sound of a door slamming shut. He opened his eyes and moved his hands away from his ears, hoping that the door slamming meant his parents had stopped arguing, that one of them had walked away, angry, but at least done fighting. What he saw was his lights flickering erratically.

“Oh, real mature of you to slam the door!” He heard his mother yell.

“You just don’t know how to let go of an argument!” He heard his father yell in response. “You just _have_ to pick something else to argue about!” The lights flickered faster and more erratically as he felt his panic rising.

There was a sudden loud popping sound from the lightbulb in his lamp overloading. The sudden noise frightened him and made him scream.

His parents apparently heard his scream as they were in the room within a few seconds.

“Logan?! What’s wrong?” His mother said, worried, as she walked over to her son.

“Th-the light broke an-and it scared me,” Logan replied, sniffling. His mother comforted him with a hug while his father started cleaning up the broken lightbulb.

Whatever that was, it had made his parents stop fighting. Even if it was scary, maybe it wasn’t so bad.

——

Logan was in seventh grade now. He had learned to live with this strange power. He discovered that he has little to no control over it as it’s so closely tied to his emotions.

He was very much the “nerdy” type; he loved learning new things. He enjoyed being in school and doing homework, whereas most other kids his age hated it. He was incredibly bright and was placed in advanced placement science and math programs. His favorite subject was science and absolutely _loved_ it. The one thing he had difficulty with was having multiple teachers. Going from one per year to one per subject was hard to get used to, even after already going through a year of it. It also meant that the teachers couldn’t figure out the best way to teach him as they didn’t see him all day.

Logan also had a problem with just blurting out whatever he was thinking or feeling. Teachers didn’t know how to handle this, especially when he blurted out the answer and then expressed his annoyance that no one else seemed to know it.

This behavior, unfortunately, brought him to the attention of the school’s bullies. They liked to tease him about his love for science, homework, and all things learning. He normally just brushed what they said off and responded with a sassy “I apologize for actually caring about my future” remark, which infuriated the bullies. He could handle the verbal stuff, it was when they started getting physical that he began to worry.

It would be little things, like pushing and shoving, and the occasional knocking his books out of his hands at first. Then it got more violent with shoves that knocked him to the ground, causing his books and papers to scatter across the floor.

One particularly rough shove one day caused his glasses to hit the floor. The bully that shoved him purposefully stepped on his glasses and started laughing.

Anger was all Logan felt when he heard the crunch of his lenses breaking. The lights started flickering and locker doors started opening and slamming shut. The bully backed away from Logan and looked around in fright.

“What the hell is going on?!” The bully yelled.

Suddenly, one of the flickering fluorescent lights crashed to the floor, nearly hitting the bully. This snapped Logan out of his anger; he quickly picked up his things and ran off towards his class. 

As angry as he was, he’d never want anyone to be hurt because of him. He swore, then and there, that he’d learn to keep his emotions more under control, even if that meant bottling them up.

It was a slow process; He still blurted out answers in class, but he rarely expressed his annoyance at the rest of the class. He stopped responding the bullies’ comments as much, hoping that eventually they’d just leave him alone.

Eventually, he stopped talking except to answer questions while he got used to it, but raised his hand instead of just blurting them out and no longer chastised the class.

——

Logan was a sophomore in high school now. By this time, he had perfected keeping his emotions hidden. His schoolmates didn’t interact with him much anymore. He was still kind to those who were kind to him, but a kept cold demeanor.

He still loved school and all things learning. He was a straight A student and top of his class. His favorite subject was still science; his favorite branch being astronomy; it was the perfect mix of precise measurements and calculations and things yet to be discovered.

On his way to lunch, he overheard a group of freshmen talking about him.

“He never shows any emotion,” one of the girls in the group said. “It’s weird and intimidating.” Some of the others nodded in agreement. He shot them an icy glare, making them recoil, and continued on his way to the cafeteria.

He sat down at a table by himself and started unpacking his packed lunch. He was already feeling irritated, the loud chatter in the cafeteria only added to it. He tried to ignore it so he could eat his lunch, but it was growing more and more impossible.

He could feel himself becoming less irritated and more angry. _Noise is normal in the cafeteria,_ he thought, _so why is it making me so angry?_ He pounds his fists on the table before getting up and walking out of the cafeteria, leaving his lunch behind.

He finds the quietest place he can, which happens to be the auditorium right now. He sits in one of the seats near the stage so he’s far away from the doors. He sighs and leans his head on the seat in front of him.

“Hey, are you alright?” A voice from the stage asked, causing Logan to jump and look up.

“Oh, uh, yes,” he answered, trying to control his tone. He didn’t like being angry with someone when they were trying to be nice. “Just irrationally angry and trying to calm down.”

The boy on the stage nodded and jumped down and sat in one of the seats in front of Logan. “Your names Logan, right?” Logan nodded in response. “I’m Virgil.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Virgil,” Logan responded, slightly confused.

“Likewise,” Virgil said. “Want to talk about what happened? I might be able to help you figure out why you’re angry.”

Logan thought about it for a moment, then explained the situation with being irritated with the group of students and the noise in the cafeteria causing him to grow more and more angry.

“That sounds a lot like sensory overload,” Virgil responded. “People with anxiety can suffer from it, but other stuff can cause it, too.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Logan said, thoughtfully. “That helps, thanks.”

“So, I’m guessing you came here for the quiet,” Virgil guessed. “I’m here helping out the theater department with painting sets.”

“That’s kind of you,” Logan said. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why are you talking to me?”

“You looked upset and thought you might need someone to talk to,” Virgil answered with a sheepish smile. “People talk about how they think you don’t have emotions or something but I never bought that.”

Logan stared at Virgil in shock, not really knowing how to respond.

“Are you ok?” Virgil asked with wide eyes. “You’re crying.” Logan touches his cheek and felt the unmistakable wetness of tears.

“Oh, yes, I’m fine,” Logan responded, softly. “I apologize. No one’s ever really wanted to just talk to me before, but that’s because I push people away so they don’t get hurt.” Virgil looked confused, but decided not to push that topic until Logan was ready to talk about it.

“Well, I’ve been surrounded by overly cheery theater geeks; talking with you has been a breath of fresh air,” Virgil said, with a smile, causing Logan let out a small laugh.

“I can only imagine how that must be,” Logan said. “I’ve enjoyed talking with you, too. Thank you.”

“It’s really no problem,” Virgil said. “I’m glad I could help you.”

“Would you mind if I had lunch in here with you?” Logan asked, suddenly.

“Oh, uh, sure, I don’t mind,” Virgil answered, a little off-put by the sudden question.

Logan made his way back to the cafeteria to get his lunch. He repacked the food into his lunch box.

Once Logan returned, they sat on the stage together and talked about whatever came to mind while Logan ate. When they didn’t have anything to say, they would sit in a comfortable silence and just enjoy each other’s company.


End file.
